Cryptid Hunters: My Soul Eater Version!
by Lizzy Lynn Holmes
Summary: after their parents go missing,Nodoka and Kyo are whisked away to live with their uncle Stein? and they're lives are turned topsey turvy-OC's plot of book cryptid hunters with changes to it R&R hinted stein and marie
1. The Terrible News

The Terrible News 1

Kyo and Nodoka Law were twins, but you wouldn't know it if you saw them together. Kyo has blonde hair, eyes the color of amethyst, and he is a foot taller than his sister. Nodoka has silver hair, startling green eyes the color of emeralds, and she is a foot smarter than her brother.

The Law twins were at the Omega Opportunity Preparatory School in Switzerland when they received the worst news of their lives.

Kyo was illustrating a comic book with his best friend and roommate, Soul Evans, when his art instructor, Mr. Umber, tapped him on the shoulder and said, "You are wanted in the headmaster's office. Again."

Kyo shrugged. He was sent to Dr. Bartholomew Beasel's office at least once a week (sometimes two or three times) for various infractions of the rules (of which there were many). The only thing that surprised him was that this time Soul wasn't being summoned as well. (They were usually punished together, which saved the headmaster a great deal of time and effort.)

"Give my regards to Dr. Weasel," Soul said.

"I will" Kyo assured him.

As always, Kyo took his time getting to the office. He chatted with friends, went to the restroom to muss his hair and pull his shirttail out (this drove the headmaster wild), and stopped in the kitchen to tell the chef he would be by later to help her roll out the dough for the cheese biscuits. When he finally arrived at the office, he was shocked to see his sister, Nodoka, sitting on one of the uncomfortable chairs outside the headmaster's door.

"What are _you _doing here?" Little Nodoka never broke the rules.

Nodoka stared at him mutely with an expression he hadn't seen on her face in a very long time. It worried him. "When we get inside," he said, "you'd better let me do the talking."

Nodoka started to respond, but was interrupted by the massive door swinging open, and the tall, skeletal Dr. Bartholomew Beasel beckoning them into his inner sanctum. Seated around his long conference table were the school nurse, counselor, chaplain, their two dormitory supervisors, and three teachers who had known the twins since they began attending the school seven years before.

Kyo looked at the staff's grim, solemn expressions and knew that something had gone very, very wrong. "I didn't do it!" he insisted.

Dr. Beasel ignored Kyo's shirttail, his wild hair, and his all too familiar disclaimer. "There has been a terrible accident," he said. "I'm afraid your parents are…"

Nodoka fainted before Dr. Beasel was able to finish. The nurse jumped up from her chair, and together with the chaplain and counselor's help, laid her out on the sofa.

"I'll get my smelling salts," the nurse said, and ran out of the office.

Kyo, who had seen Nodoka's emotions overwhelm her like this before, was not overly concerned. He glared around the room in angry frustration at the fussing adults until he could stand it no longer, then shouted, "Our parents are _what_?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him helplessly. Dr. Beasel slithered over and put his long slender arm around his least favorite student's shoulders. "I'm afraid your parents are…missing," he said.

Kyo sank into the nearest chair. "Both of them?" Dr. Beasel gave him a sad nod. "A helicopter crash in the Amazon. The pilot was found…dead…a conflagration…"

Kyo blinked. "A what?" He didn't know what the word meant, but it sounded bad.

Nodoka, who had recovered without smelling salts and was now sobbing uncontrollably, said, "A fire, Kyo. A terrible fire." Kyo joined his sister in her bewildered despair.

The next morning the news was all over the local papers and on the lips of every student and teacher in the school. The twins retreated to Nodoka's private table in the back of the school library to escape all the sympathetic murmurs and curious stares. Nodoka spent more time at this table than she did in the dormitory room she shared with her best friend, Maka Albarn. No one was allowed to use Nodoka's table.

"I have something to tell you," she said, holding her stuffed kitty. At least it was thought to be a kitty. The fabric was covered with patches and stitches that looked like scars; its left arm, mouth and ears were long gone. She'd had it since she was a baby and called it "Kitty." It was never far away from her. Kyo referred to it as the "Frankenstein kitty."

He was seated across from her. Scattered over the table were several newspapers, open books, crumpled tissues, Nodoka's Moleskine journal, and scraps of paper filled with mathematical equations, which looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics to Kyo, and made just about as much sense.

"But before I tell you," Nodoka continued, "you have to promise not to say a word about it to anyone else." A promise between the twins was a sacred pact that could not be broken unless the one who had promised was released from the promise by the one who had asked for the promise. A promise was sealed by giving Kitty's remaining arm a squeeze.

Kyo squeezed Kitty's arm.

Nodoka nodded and took a deep breath. "Remember those nightmares I used to have when I was little?"

"How could I forget?" Kyo answered. "They nearly drove you crazy. Don't tell me they're back."

"They're back."

Kyo shuddered. No wonder she'd looked so tense outside the Weasel's door. The nightmares had bothered her from the time she was two and a half years old until she was six. When Nodoka was a little girl, two or three times a week she would wake up screaming. And when she had calmed down enough to speak, she had virtually no recollection of what the dream was about.

"I thought you'd outgrown all that," Kyo said. The nightmares had stopped after the twins arrived at the boarding school.

"I did too." Nodoka shook her head. "But they're back."

"Do you remember anything?" Kyo asked.

"No, but there's something very familiar about all this. Déjà vu, as if I've been through all this before."

"Well, I haven't," Kyo said, feeling as if ants were crawling on his neck. Nodoka sometimes had this effect on him.

She opened one of the newspapers and spread it out on the desk. "Have you seen this article?"

He looked down at the newspaper. Accompanying the long article describing the accident was a dramatic color photograph of the twins' father, Justin Law. The photo had been taken by their mother and the caption below it read: _EMILY LAW'S FINAL PHOTOGRAPH_.

"Mother's last kiss," he whispered, staring at his father's handsome face, trying to hold back tears.

Their mother believed that taking a photograph was like giving someone a kiss. She had told them if there was no affection as the shutter released, the photograph was not worth taking.

"She must have taken this on Mount Everest," Kyo commented. Their parents had reached the summit just before they flew off to South America to write an article about the rain forest.

In the photo their father was smiling at their mother with mild amusement. His oxygen mask and goggles were pulled down around his neck. His face was windburned and slightly paler around his purple eyes where the goggles had been. It was a bright day the kind of day their mother loved because it gave her photos something she called "depth of field," meaning the background was as sharply focused as the foreground. Their mother was standing next to him, which had meant she had put the camera on a tripod and set the shutter to release on its own. Her curly blond hair spilled over the collar of her down parka. Her right hand was bare. (You can't manipulate a camera with mittens.) A light meter hung around her neck.

Kyo stared at the photograph so he didn't have to watch Nodoka cry. A lump the size of a chicken egg lodged in his throat.

"Do you think Mom got our Mother's Day card?"

The twins had sent the handmade card to her two weeks early, hoping it would get to her in time.

"I hope so," Nodoka said, reaching over and taking his hand.

With his free hand Kyo picked up a used tissue from the table.

Emily and Justin Law were one of the most famous photojournalist teams in the world. Together they had climbed the highest mountains, probed the deepest caves, and rafted the wildest rivers.

After Kyo and Nodoka were born, Emily hung her cameras up and moved into a house in Missoula Montana, while Justin continued traveling and writing to support their new family. He was gone more than he was home, and he missed many of the twins' early accomplishments.

At age three, Kyo could run faster than his athletic mother. At the same age, Nodoka had a vocabulary larger than most sixth graders. At four, Kyo could unlock the back door and start the car. (Fortunately, his legs were too short to reach the accelerator pedal.) At the same age, Nodoka could add a long column of figures in her head and pick a lock as fast as a professional burglar. At five, Kyo sculpted a statue of their neighbor's aggressive dog out of mud that looked so real his mother called the pound to have it picked up. At the same age, Nodoka began to learn French, decided she wanted to become a doctor, and started writing the first of many diaries, using blank Moleskine journals from Italy. Six of the blank journals arrived for her by mail every year directly from the company that made them. Her father used the same kind of journal to keep notes for his articles. Nodoka suspected that he had them sent, but when asked, he would merely smile and say, "They're from a secret admirer."

The turning point for the Law family came when the twins were six years old. Kyo decided he wanted to catch a bear. He and Nodoka dug a five-foot-deep pit in the backyard, covered the opening with brush, and caught their mother, who became as angry as a bear. The twins didn't understand why she was so upset. They had not used the sharpened stakes in the bottom of the pit which the instructions had called for. (Kyo wanted the bear alive for show-and-tell at school.)

While Mrs. Law was in the hospital recovering from her injuries, she got to thinking about the direction her life had taken. She missed her husband. She missed her former independence. But most of all, she missed the wild places her cameras had taken her to. If I'm going to fall into pits, I might as well get paid for it, she decided, and soon after her release she took the twins and joined Mr. Law in the field. This did not work for very long. Nodoka was afraid of everything that moved (and many things that didn't). Kyo was afraid of nothing except ghosts, which he had only read about.

For the twins' own safety, the Laws decided that Kyo and Nodoka should stay at home. They hired a succession of live-in nannies to care for the children, but none of them lasted long. One by one, these disgruntled women fled the house with hastily packed bags, shouting back at the twins' panicky parents, "your son is as wild as a hurricane and that daughter of yours is just plain creepy."

"But they're only first graders!" Mr. and Mrs. Law would yell back helplessly.

To which the fleeing nanny would shout, "First graders from_"

Well, you get the point. The Laws had a major problem with their minors, which was finally resolved when they discovered the Omega Opportunity Preparatory School while on a magazine assignment in the Swiss Alps.

In many ways, the school had been very good for the twins. Nodoka was allowed to be as smart as she wanted to be, and Kyo had learned to turn some of his wild streak into paint strokes and spices. But of the two, Nodoka liked the school best. Kyo merely tolerated it and tried to curb his wildness so he (and more important, his weird sister) would not get booted out. He liked Nodoka that much.

Nodoka and Kyo spent several weeks with their parents every summer and saw them on most holidays, which was more than many of the other students saw of their parents in any given year. During the remaining days of summer the twins were sent to camps and courses all over the world. Nodoka had attended Medical Camp, Physics Camp, Astronomy Camp, Poetry Camp, Shakespeare Camp, and Latin Camp. Kyo had gone to Mountain Climbing Camp, Scuba Diving Camp, Whitewater Camp, and Cowboy Camp.

It was not an ideal family relationship, but Nodoka and Kyo had grown accustomed to their globetrotting parents and accepted them for who they were. Or at least who the twins thought they were.

((A/n ok new fic and yes it is the chap with small changes to it which is why im saying I DO NOT OWN CRYPTID HUNTERS OR SOUL EATER IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM THEY BELONG TO THE RESPECTED OWNERS OF THEM, R&R oh and ill try and be getting my other fics updated too so until the next chapter PEACE….THE WORLD IS MADE OF LOVE AND PEACE virtual cookie to those who know this xDD))


	2. Six Months Later

Six Months Later 2

The magazine that had sent the Laws to the Amazon had spent a small fortune looking for them, but to no avail. Justin and Emily had simply vanished and after a few months the search had been called off.

Kyo and Nodoka had not given up hope entirely and refused to believe their parents were gone for good. But as the weeks and months went by without any word, their hope began to erode. Neither would admit this to themselves (or to each other), but sometimes late at night, in the solitude of their beds, they feared their parents were not coming back and wondered what was going to become of them.

The answer to this question came in the form of a e-mail:

Subject: Arrangements

From: stein eSoul . Com

To: nodoka _ law xlink . Com

Cc: kyo _ law xlink . Com

Nodoka & Kyo:

I can't tell you how sorry I am to hear of your great loss. Your mother and father's accident has a profound effect on all of us.

I waited to contact you because I had hoped to have better news. Unfortunately, there is still no sign of your parents.

During this sad time, I think it best for you to be with family. To that end I have arranged for you to come here and live with me.

Your headmaster has been contacted and he will assist you in getting here. I'm looking forward to seeing you again.

Love,

Uncle Franken

Nodoka was totally distraught by the message. She printed it out, found Kyo, marched him down to Dr. Beasel's office, and burst through his door without bothering to wait for the secretary to announce them.

"What does he mean, _again_?" she shouted, waving the e-mail before the headmaster's perplexed face.

"We didn't even know we had an uncle!"

The headmaster expected this kind of behavior from her brother, but not from Little Nodoka, the finest student ever to walk the hallowed halls of the school.

"Calm yourself, Nodoka," Dr. Beasel admonished her. "Can't you see that I have a visitor?" The visitor was a rough-looking man wearing orange coveralls with "Geneva Pest Removal" in French stenciled across his back in large purple letters formed by various rodents and insects. Dr. Beasel motioned the children over to the sofa and resumed his conversation with the burly exterminator.

"What are they saying?" Kyo whispered. His French was still not very good, despite seven years of lessons.

"They're arguing," Nodoka whispered back. "Dr. Beasel insists that there are termites in his office."

Kyo grinned, and Nodoka suspected that her brother knew more about the termites than he should.

"Whatever you're thinking," Nodoka whispered, "stop. Kyo this is serious."

"What's so serious about termites?"

"That's not what I meant," Nodoka answered impatiently. "They're about to hand us over to a complete stranger. We don't even know where this so-called uncle of ours lives."

"Well, it can't be worse than this place."

"I mean it, Kyo! I want to stay right here. It's the only place I feel safe."

"Oh, please."

"The nightmares are back. You remember how it used to be. I can't live like that again."

"It seems to me if the nightmares are starting to bug you here, you'd want to get away from them."

Dr. Beasel suddenly turned to them. "Did you say something about bugs?" "No." Kyo pointed to the carpet. "I was telling Nodoka how I always admired your rug."

Dr. Beasel adjusted his hairpiece and gave Kyo what Soul called the "stink-eye," then turned his attention back to the exterminator.

"Help me, Kyo," Nodoka Pleaded.

Kyo looked at his sister and melted inside. The joke between them had always been that he had gotten both their bodies and she had gotten both their brains—a mix up in their mother's womb they weren't able to straighten out before it was time to go. He was her bodyguard and Nodoka was his braingaurd. "Oh, all right," he said. "But I'm not sure what I can do."

"Thanks, Kyo."

Dr. Beasel concluded his conversation with the exterminator, walked him to the door, then turned to the Law twins. "Now, what's this all about?"

"This." Nodoka handed him the e-mail.

Dr. Beasel glanced at it, then handed it back to her. "Yes, I spoke with your uncle this morning."

"Well, that's more than we've ever done!" Nodoka said heatedly. "We didn't even know he existed until we got this!" She wadded up the e-mail and threw it on the floor.

Dr. Beasel took a step backward. He had never seen Nodoka so upset. Kyo was surprised at her outburst as well. He had only seen her lose her temper three times: once when he put a snake in her bed (it wasn't venomous); another time when he took an innocent little peek at her Moleskine; and then the year before when he hid a bucket of cow manure in her closet (it was an emergency).

"Your uncle's name is Dr. Franken Stein," Dr. Beasel said.

"Mom has a brother?" Kyo asked. Their mother's maiden name was Stein.

"Yes," Dr. Beasel answered.

"What kind of doctor?" Kyo asked.

"He's a veterinarian."

Kyo glanced at Nodoka. "That's not so bad."

Nodoka gave him another stink-eye. Kyo was wild about animals.

"He doesn't practice anymore," Dr. Beasel continued. "He owns a company called eSoul. They make computers, software, and communication satellites—a very successful business from all accounts."

"Hmm," Kyo said.

Trouble, Nodoka thought. Kyo was also wild about computers. He and Soul had secretly built a computer in their dormitory room and tapped into the school's phone line so they could surf the Net without supervision. They charged the boys on their floor ten dollars a session, which had paid for the computer in less than a week. They were trying to earn money to get their first full-length comic book published.

"So, you've met him?" Nodoka asked.

"Not exactly." Mr. Beasel looked a little uncomfortable. "But I've spoken with him on the telephone many times over the years. I feel as if I know him."

Weak, Kyo thought, enjoying Dr. Weasel's discomfort. "So you and he are phone buddies?"

"I wouldn't exactly characterize it that way. He calls once or twice a month to check on your progress. He's been very generous to the school and I hope he continues his support after…" Dr. Beasel cleared his throat. "But, that's beside the point. What's important for you to know is that he's been your benefactor as well as the school's. He has paid your tuition since you arrived here."

"Why would he do that?" Nodoka asked. Their parents were two of the highest-paid journalists in the world. They weren't hurting for money.

"I assume he wanted to help your parents by paying for your education. It's not that unusual here."

"Why would he check on our progress?" Kyo asked.

"Concern, curiosity… I don't really know. It never occurred to me to ask. I know that this is a very difficult time for both of you, but as your legal guardian and the sole executor of your parents' estate he thought it best—"

"Legal guardian?" Kyo said.

"Executor of our parents' estate?" Nodoka added.

"Our parents aren't—"

"I hope you're right, Nodoka," Dr. Beasel interrupted soothingly. "There is always a chance they survived. But until this is all straightened out you'll be staying with your uncle."

"When?" Kyo asked.

"The day after tomorrow."

The twins stared at him.

"There's still more than a month left of school," Nodoka said, shocked. "We'll miss our final exams. Don't we have any choice in where we live or who we live with?"

"At your age, I'm afraid not."

The twins had recently turned thirteen. Nodoka stepped on Kyo's foot, which was his cue to say or do something about this terrible situation. Kyo, of course, was not in the least upset about missing his exams. And he was intrigued by his mysterious uncle, instead of being appalled like Nodoka. Still, he had to say something or else she would be mad at him for the rest of his life.

"Where does Uncle Franken live?"

"In the Pacific Northwest," Dr. Beasel answered.

"Near Seattle."

Kyo could feel Nodoka's Green eyes boring into him, but for one of the first times in his life he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Nodoka." Dr. Beasel squatted down and put his bony hands on her shoulders. "I want you to know that we will really miss you here."

She pushed him away and ran out of the office, sobbing. Kyo watched her go, then turned back to the headmaster. "Will you miss me too?"

Dr. Beasel did not answer him.

Kyo nodded, then began staring at a spot just beyond the headmaster's left ear and started moving his eyes around the room as if he were tracking a flying insect.

"What is it?" Dr. Beasel asked excitedly. "What do you see?"

"I don't know." Kyo stood. "At first I thought it was a fly, but it's bigger than… Look, there it is! Jeez, I think it's a termite." He pointed.

The headmaster looked around frantically. "I don't—"

"There!"

"Where!"

"Over by the window. No… now it's by the painting. Wow, it crawled right behind the picture frame. Did you see it?"

"Yes!" Dr. Beasel said. "I believe I did!" He picked up his phone. "Is that fool of an exterminator still in the building? Well, find out and send him back up here!"

Kyo reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of dead termites. While the headmaster was distracted, he tossed them under his desk, then left the office. There were some things he was going to miss about the school.

He found Nodoka sitting at her table in the library. She looked up at him through red-rimmed eyes. "You were useless."

"Sorry. But Dr. Weasel wouldn't have listened to me no matter what I'd said."

"I wish you wouldn't call him that."

"Why not?"

Up until their meeting, Nodoka could have given him a long list of reasons, but now she couldn't think of one. She'd always thought that Dr. Beasel loved having her at the school, but he had caved in to their uncle's plan without a hint of protest.

"Look," Kyo said. "I'm sure there's a logical reason why Mom didn't tell us about her brother."

"Like, maybe she was embarrassed about him," Nodoka said. "Or maybe he's insane, or maybe he's been in prison all these years for murder or worse."

"Oh please. Where would he get the money to pay for our tuition? And how could he run a computer company from a jail cell?"

"He's the executor of Mom and Dad's estate. Maybe he's after our money. A lot of computer companies have gone out of business in the past few years."

"Maybe." Kyo picked up one of Nodoka's pencils and started rolling it through his fingers. "Do you think Mom and Dad are okay?"

Nodoka sighed. "I go back and forth, but I think that if they were dead I would know somehow know it."

Kyo felt the same way. "I think they're okay too," he said. "They've survived worse things than a helicopter crash."

"What are we going to do, Kyo?"

Kyo shrugged. "What we always do. Deal with it."

((Chap 2 sorry I haven't updated but I was kinda busy I went out of the country also for those who read the book cryptid hunters I am keeping the pet names the same they are in the book as I can see stein naming them that xDD I actually kinda pained me to write this chapter because of all the things nodoka said about stein T.T oh well disclaimer is: I own nothing of soul eater or cryptid hunters they belong to their respected owners. TILL NEXT TIME~))


	3. The Baretts

The Baretts 3

Nodoka stepped off the airplane in Seattle wearing a gray pleated skirt, a starched white blouse, and a black blazer with the school's coat of arms proudly sewn on the left breast pocket. Kyo had on gray slacks, a wrinkled white shirt, a paint stained school tie, and a black blazer identical to Nodoka's, except for the tear in the right sleeve at the elbow and a bit of dried yolk on the lapel from the omelet he had just eaten. Dr. Beasel had insisted the twins wear their school uniforms so their uncle would recognize them when they arrived.

On the flight, when he wasn't drawing in his sketchbook, Kyo had slept. As he walked toward U.S. Customs with his passport in hand, despite his worry about his parents, he was nearly bursting with anticipation for this new adventure. Nodoka had slept some as well, but she was not nearly as excited. She had spent all her waking moments writing in her diary and plotting her and Kyo's return to the Omega Opportunity Preparatory School, hoping their uncle would listen to reason and was not a homicidal maniac.

As they waited in the customs line, Kyo spotted an older couple just beyond the gate holding up a crude sign with _Law_ scribbled on it. He pointed them out to Nodoka and said, "Uncle Franken must be mom's _older_ brother."

The black-haired man was wearing a pair of blue jeans, an old sweatshirt with Air Force written on it in faded letters, and a pair of high-top sneakers. The woman was much skinnier than the man, dressed in brown Capri's, a light brown tank top, and had brown boots. She also had bandages wrapped up her arms and up to the bridge of her nose.

"That can't possibly be Uncle Franken," Nodoka said.

"A dollar says it is."

"You're on." In the past seven years, Nodoka had won a total of two hundred and eleven one-dollar bills from him, each carefully tallied in her Moleskines. Kyo had not won a single dollar.

Kyo walked up to the couple. "Uncle Franken?"

"No," the man said. "My name's Sid Barett, and this is my wife—"

"Nygus," the woman said, throwing her arms around them. "You poor, poor things!" she drew them into her like a famished spider. "We are so sorry about what happened. You're so young…."

She went on and on. Kyo thought that Nygus would be very weak due to her skinny frame, but she seemed to be extremely strong. It was like getting hugged by an oak tree. He thought he might suffocate before she finished, but managed to wiggle free and get a gulp of air. Nodoka was not as lucky. Nygus held her in a headlock from which she could not escape.

"So, where's Uncle Franken?" Kyo asked.

"He couldn't be—" Sid started to answer.

"He and his crew just got back this morning,"

Nygus interrupted, "or he would have been here to meet you himself. He's been in the field and he had a lot of things to attend to at home. We offered to stand in for him. I hope you're not too disappointed."

"What crew?" Kyo asked.

"His merry band of pirates," Nygus said with a laugh.

"So you're not relatives?"

"No, but I hope you'll consider us family."

"Stein will explain everything when you see him," Sid Said. "Let's get your bags." He tossed the sign into the garbage and started down the corridor. "Nodoka, you haven't said a word," Nygus said, still clutching her.

Nodoka squirmed out of her grip and glared at Kyo. "You owe me a dollar."

Kyo reached into his pocket and handed her his two hundred and twelfth one-dollar bill.

When Sid jerked Nodoka's bag off the conveyer belt, he nearly dislocated his shoulder. "What in the hell do you have in there?"

"Books," Kyo said. He had told Nodoka to leave the books behind, but she insisted on taking a two-week supply (or by Kyo's estimate sixty pounds of words), which is how long Nodoka calculated it would take to convince her uncle to send them back to the school.

"I'll go see if they have a forklift," Sid said. He returned with a sturdy cart and pushed the bags to the parking lot.

Half an hour later they arrived at a beautiful lake in the center of Seattle.

"This is Great!" Kyo said.

"Oh, this isn't where your uncle lives," Nygus explained. "He's a hundred fifty miles west of here."

"But Seattle's on the West Coast."

"That's right," Sid said, dragging the luggage down a wooden dock to a small seaplane that had seen better days.

"We're flying in this?" Nodoka asked.

"I know she's not much to look at," Sid said apologetically. "But she can fly." He opened the storage compartment, and a bag of food spilled out onto the dock.

"We are going to die!" Nodoka hissed in Kyo's ear. Kyo ignored her. He was used to her being afraid of everything. "Relax," he whispered. "I've flown in dozens of small airplanes—some worse than this." He helped Nygus pick up the bread and meat, and said, "This is a lot of food."

"We have two new stomachs to fill," Nygus said. "I'm your uncle's cook…among other things."

"No kidding?" Kyo said. "I do a little cooking myself." He was being somewhat modest. At school when he wasn't drawing, painting, sculpting, or cartooning, Kyo was in the kitchen learning everything he could about the culinary arts. His long-range plan was to support his comic-book business by becoming a world famous chef. Even Dr. Beasel thought this was a reachable goal. Kyo's only regret in leaving so quickly was that he missed his last lesson on making the perfect broccoli soufflé. He peered into the crammed compartment and was delighted to see several items he could work with if Nygus would let him use the kitchen. "No vegetables?"

"We grow our own," Nygus said. "In greenhouses. And they're all organic."

"Do you have broccoli?"

"A whole row."

"That's great!"

That's bad, Nodoka thought. Of this keeps up, I won't be able to separate Kyo from Uncle Franken with a stick of dynamite, and he hasn't even met him yet.

Sid looked up at the clouds gathering above the lake. "We'd better take off. The weather's turning. If we don't, we'll be stuck on the mainland until the storm passes."

"The mainland?" Kyo asked

"Your uncle lives on an island off the Washington coast," Sid said.

"Wow!"

Two sticks of dynamite, Nodoka thought grimly.

With a lot of grunting and groaning, Sid managed to get the twins' suitcases into the storage compartment. Kyo and Nodoka climbed into the tattered backseats, and Nygus got herself into the copilot seat next to Sid.

"Buckle up," Sid said

They took off across the lake, heading west toward the Pacific Ocean.

Unbeknownst to the occupants of the noisy seaplane, they passed right over the top of a large mansion perched on a hill overlooking a beautiful zoological park. Inside the mansion was a man sitting at a desk in a dimly lit room without windows. Lying next to the man was a magnificent, fully grown Caspian tiger, thought to have gone extinct a half century earlier. The man's name was Muska Gorgon. The tiger's name was Natasha.

The only thing on the desk was a computer screen and a speakerphone. Muska had graying blonde hair, gold eyes, and teeth as straight and as white as piano keys. His manicured hand lay on the tiger's back. He enjoyed the feeling of the soft black-and-gold fur and the taut muscles beneath the tiger's skin.

The phone rang. He punched a button and said, "I've been waiting for your call."

"Sorry," a man said over the speaker. "I was holding off until we had better news."

"And do you have better news?"

"No, sir. We haven't found her yet."

"I'm very disappointed."

"We didn't expect her to abandon her camper in Salt Lake City after we fouled the engine. She didn't take a bus, train, or airplane out of town. She didn't have enough cash to rent a car, and her credit cards were all cancelled. I suspect she's still in town someplace."

"And I suspect you are wrong," Muska said coldly. The tiger tensed, feeling sparks of anger from his master's fingertips. "Did you search the camper?"

"Yes, sir. It was full of book and assorted junk, but we didn't find what you're looking for. If she has it, it's with her."

"She has it." Muska swept his gold eyes slowly around his study, taking in the huge hermetically sealed glass dioramas lining the walls. Each of them represented years of searching, a great deal of money, and no small amount of risk. "And Stein?" he asked.

"As far as we know he's still on the island. The Baretts took off this morning for the mainland, but Dr. Stein wasn't with them. According to our source, they're picking up his niece and nephew."

"Ah, yes…The tragedy in the jungle. So, the children are going to live with him?"

"That's our understanding."

He was pleased to hear this. Raising two youngsters would certainly complicate things for Franken Stein. "Anything else?"

"Are you sending Chris out here to give us a hand?"

"No. Chris is in the field on another assignment. He left yesterday and he'll be gone for some time."

"We could sure use some help here."

"Just find the woman!" Muska terminated the call and looked down at his magnificent tiger. "Soon, Natasha," he whispered. "Very soon."

((I am very sorry for not updating in a long time sorry! I own nothing))


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